Fire Event in San Saba

Thursday afternoon, the city of San Saba was scrambling. The San Saba Volunteer Fire Department was called to a fire on West Wallace Street. Shortly thereafter, other VFDs were called in to help - several other VFDs. News outlets as far as Waco, Austin, San Angelo reported on the fire yesterday.

There were many stories whirling around town. Everywhere you went, folks were talking about it. Some with scanners would post what they heard on social media. However, the information we hear on the scanner is only part of the information. Passing it along can sometimes cause more harm than good. Repeating the many stories here would just feed the flame of supposition going around. 

During an event like this, information is constantly changing and being updated. Most of you remember September 11, 2001. We were all glued to the television or radio for hours … and hours … and hours - because the information kept changing.

Here are reports submitted late Thursday afternoon to the San Saba News & Star from our local officials:

Massive fire at Chase Pecan - San Saba VFD

Photos Courtesy of San Saba Volunteer Fire Department

The San Saba Volunteer Fire Department received an "all hands" call for a massive fire at Chase Pecan's storage yard, where stacked pecan bins caught fire and quickly spread into the pasture of a neighboring home. 

Heavy black smoke could be seen from miles away as the fire raged, and firefighters from all county departments and several others from surrounding counties responded quickly to contain the blaze. 

No structures, including neighboring homes were damaged. One firefighter suffered from heat exhaustion but remained on scene and is okay.

Large Fire Reported - San Saba Police Department

Photos Courtesy of the San Saba Police Department

On August 17, 2023 at approximately 2:15 p.m., San Saba Police and Sheriff’s Office personnel responded to a large structure fire in the 2700 block of West Wallace Street (US 190).

Upon officers’ arrival, they discovered a fire had started in a large grassy area along West Wallace Street (US 190). Following a preliminary investigation, the cause of the fire is unknown but no signs of foul play were discovered. No structures were damaged during this incident.

The San Saba Fire Department and several other agencies responded to help extinguish the blaze. Fire personnel had it contained by 4:00 p.m. and successfully prevented serious damage to the area and kept the fire from spreading to nearby properties.

"We are still investigating the cause of the fire, but would like to thank the surrounding agencies who assisted the San Saba Fire Department to contain the large fire. We’d also like to urge the public to avoid this location until further notice as personnel will be on scene for an undetermined period of time." San Saba Police Chief John Bauer.

This investigation, by the San Saba Police Department, remains on-going.

Friday morning, the Fire Crews are still there watching the hotspots. Fire Trucks are spraying the smoldering debris and extinguishing the flames as they come up, and construction equipment was helping spread out the debris to help prevent a rekindling.

I spoke to Marsha Hardy, San Saba Emergency Management Coordinator, Friday morning. She said the fire sparked back up during the night, and that is why crews stayed to monitor smoldering embers during the night. She was contacted at 10:30 p.m. last night by a state agency to ask if we needed any help and to get pictures of the fire. More definite information will be available once the fire is no longer in danger of flaring up and more investigating can be done.

Even though this fire was a huge event in town, everything else did not stop. EMS and local law enforcement were still being called out on other emergency calls around town. When you see one of our First Responders, be sure to thank them for their dedication to keeping us safe!

Check out next week’s edition of the San Saba News & Star for updates on this Fire Event in San Saba.